Chris Cuellar – Daily Staff Writer

Hobbling along with only eight scholarship players on the active roster, it would seem that the Iowa State (12–5, 1–1) picked an unlikely time to get its first Big 12 road win in three years last Saturday. Coach Greg McDermott’s team will take a shot at two in-a-row at Texas Tech (12–5, 0–3) on Wednesday night.

McDermott started the 2007–’08 season 2–1 in Big 12 play, but both wins were in Hilton Coliseum, and juniors Craig Brackins, Diante Garrett and Lucca Staiger are excited at the prospects of doubling their career conference road victories in a five day span.

“Oh man, getting that first Big 12 road win, for the first time ever, it feels real good,” Garrett said.

Despite Brackins shooting 9-of-26 and committing six turnovers against Texas and Nebraska, the Cyclones were able to take No. 1 Texas (who has since lost to Kansas State on Monday) to the wire, and defeat a scrappy Cornhusker squad.

“It feels good just to win. I know that whatever I can do for my team, I’m going to do it,” Brackins said. “I’m going to keep shooting. Shots will fall, if they don’t fall, it’s like that sometimes.”

While the Cyclones ended the road losing streak in Nebraska, the team has feasted on weaker competition and will be traveling farther than 400 miles for just the second time this year.

According to Real Time RPI, Iowa State is also 0–5 against teams with an RPI better than 85, and coach Pat Knight’s Red Raiders are a solid No. 50 in the postseason-determining Rating Percentage Index. The RPI doesn’t count defense in its formula though, and Texas Tech is allowing a Big 12-worst 73.6 points per contest, which has jumped to 88 points per game in its three conference losses.

“It’s not just me, all of our players would like to run up and down and have a high tempo game. I think that’s to our advantage,” Staiger said.

Iowa State sits second in the Big 12 in three point shooting percentage (.418) behind Kansas, a skill that bodes well against a defense that has been porous to start the season. Senior Marquis Gilstrap has been a welcome piece to that puzzle as well, and the now four-time winner of the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week award is leading the Big 12 in rebounding early in conference play. Add up the consistent play of Gilstrap and his ability to make plays in the open floor, and it would be difficult to poll the team and not discover that they want to run the fast break all day.

“We have to pick our spots, because there are opportunities to score in transition. That’s the way our guys play the best, so we have to allow them to do it. We just have to be careful when it’s not there, that we grind a little offense if we’re going to rest, that we rest on the offensive end and not the defensive end,” McDermott said.

The coach is also well aware of Texas Tech’s weapons on the floor — a combination that includes guard John Roberson and forward Mike Singletary, players that have the ability to change the entire look and feel of a game. The 5-foot-11 Roberson leads the Red Raiders’ attack, averaging 13.9 points and 5.4 assists per game and is running out an Ironman-like 35 minutes for coach Knight’s club. Singletary leads Texas Tech with 14.5 points per, and is the notable name on this club after going off for 43 points against Texas A&M in the Big 12 Tournament, the highest output in the history of the event.

“Roberson really makes them go and everybody saw what Singletary did in the tournament, scoring 29 straight points. It is going to be a heck of a challenge for us, but it’s something that our guys are really excited about,” McDermott said.

Iowa State’s last win at Texas Tech was a 87–79 win on March 1, 2000.